Cabinet approves revised costs for Agra-Lucknow expressway
Providing an impetus to chief minister Akhilesh Yadav’s agenda of developing infrastructure, the state cabinet on Tuesday approved revised costs for the Agra-Lucknow Access Controlled Greenfield Expressway and gave nod to setting up of a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for the construction of Metro between Noida and Greater Noida and an agreement to be signed for Metro project from Noida City Centre Sector 32 to Sector 62.
Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav presided over the meeting of the cabinet that also approved a proposal to invite bids for desilting the major canals to ensure their maximum utilisation for irrigation.
Briefing media persons, chief secretary Alok Ranjan said the total cost of the approved infrastructure projects was about Rs 18,939 crore. He said the state cabinet approved the total cost of Rs 11,526.73 crore for the Agra-Lucknow Expressway project to be constructed in five packages on the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) model.
As per the decision, the approved cost of the package-1 from Agra to Firozabad (PNC Infratech Ltd) would be Rs 1,635.75 crore. Approved cost of the package-II from Firozabad to Etawah would be
Rs 1,990.49 crore. The package-III from Etawah to Kannauj (NCC Limited) would cost Rs 1,674.81 crore. The package 4 from Kannauj to Unnao (Afcon Infrastructure) would cost Rs 2,124.17 crore while the package 5 from Unnao to Lucknow (Larsen and Tubro) would cost Rs 1,630 crore.
An official spokesman said the initial estimated cost of the project was about Rs 9,000 crore. He said the state cabinet had now approved the minimum bids for the five packages. Two retired judges of the Allahabad high court have called the estimates of the RITES (Rail India Technical And Economic Services) about the total project costs and the Uttar Pradesh Expressway Industrial Development Authority’s (UPEIDA) bidding process proper and transparent, said the spokesman. Meanwhile, the state cabinet approved the Memorandum of Association (MOA) and the Articles of Association (AOA) for setting up of the Special Purpose Vehicle NOIDA Metro Rail Corporation (NMRC) and the agreement to be signed to appoint DMRC as the turn key consultant for execution of the metro project. It approved the DMRC’s detailed project report (DPR) of April 14 projecting the completion cost of the project to be Rs 5,533 crore. The state cabinet authorised the chief minister for any further decision on various issues.
POWER TO CEO, NOIDA
The state cabinet authorised the chief executive officer (CEO) Noida for the agreement to be signed between DMRC and Noida to implement the Metro project from Noida City Centre to sector 62. The state government would not provide any financial assistance for the 6.675 km long Metro project to cost around Rs 1880 crore.